Belated New Year

Last week, post Holidays, I wanted to write something profound. New Year, new insights, etc. That didn’t happen.

After a very nice Christmas with my family, I got very ill. Fortunately, not with the stomach bug that’s going around, but with either a severe reaction to a medicine I took, or the coincidence of having taken that medicine at the same time I got ill.

Either way, New Year’s Eve morning, 2 am, I awoke shivering, and could not stop. I didn’t have a fever, and my joints throbbed as if I’d just done Olympic lifts for a day straight.

Of course we had company on the way for that night, and my wife had put in hours of prep time, so I wouldn’t think of it when she suggested cancelling. I said hey to my friends when they arrived and then spent the night in my room under covers, watching HGTV and trying not to shiver.

I saw the ball drop only because I dragged myself out of bed to do so, and then I plugged in earbuds to drown out my now very loud friends, and went to sleep.

This went on for a couple of days. During that time, I barely ate and mostly sat in the corner reading The Walking Dark. I think reading something about the plague would have been more appropriate.

I managed to recover enough to eat meals, and to have conversations, and eventually return to work, now that break is over. I’m still not 100%. This rattle in my chest needs to go. But, in spite of a lousy end to my time off, break was excellent.

With two young daughters, Christmas is a grand event, and I cherish how much they love it. And then we had snow and they played in it, and then I was well enough to make zombies and snow angels.

Being temporarily ill affords you the perspective that life will get better and reminds you to appreciate it when it does. So possibly that’s my insight for the New Year. It’s not exactly a new one for me, but an appropriate reminder of just how good I have it.

So here’s to 2014. I’ll have another novel out in the fall. I don’t yet know when I can talk about it, but I promise I will, and hopefully you will all enjoy.